> YOUR FILES ARE LOCKED. SEND 0.5 BTC TO [ADDRESS] TO UNLOCK YOUR MACHINE.

He typed Y .

"No," he said, a strange calm settling over him. "I wasn't trying to help you. I was trying to cheat."

> RETRY WITH VIP ACCESS? [Y/N]

The instructions were typical: download a patched .exe, disable antivirus, run as administrator, and input a hardware ID. The promise was a lifetime license. Leo knew the risks. He’d seen colleagues' computers turned into crypto-mining zombies. But Elena’s face, her plea, echoed in his head.

Leo’s heart sank. This wasn’t an activation code. It was a loader. Before he could unplug the USB, the laptop’s fan roared. The green text vanished, replaced by a red skull and a single sentence:

Leo looked at the dead S22. Then at the sandwich. Then at the empty spot on the wall where his repair certifications used to hang.